Biography

"The soul is not digital."

Lara Porzak is an American photographer living and working in Los Angeles. She exclusively works with analog methods, carefully curated to convey the emotion she wishes to express. Her cameras and developing techniques, requiring great technical mastery, date back to the 19th century (tintypes, gelatin silver lith, wet collodion...).

 

The artist is particularly attached to the materiality of "handmade" photography and seeks to bring out its original magnetism. She poetically captures universal subjects, such as landscapes, revealing their timeless nature. Likewise, she plays on the ambiguity between abstraction and figuration through her practice of soft focus and deliberately expressive tintypes, evoking distant and ever longing imprints of beauty. As the Los Angeles Times aptly described it, "her photojournalistic style combines with the romantic influences of European photographers from the 1930s and 1940s to give her work a timeless quality with a strong sense of narrative”. Her photographs have notably joined the J. Paul Getty Museum collections.

Works
  • Lara Porzak, Atlas Moth, 2015
    Atlas Moth, 2015
  • Lara Porzak, Flutterby, 2014
    Flutterby, 2014
  • Lara Porzak, Desert Varnish, Lake Study, 2019
    Desert Varnish, Lake Study, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Beauty from the Rain, 2019
    Beauty from the Rain, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Gwen's Flowers, 2019
    Gwen's Flowers, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Wild, Outer Banks, N.C, 2010
    Wild, Outer Banks, N.C, 2010
  • Lara Porzak, Moon Glow, 2016
    Moon Glow, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Lake Powell, 2014
    Lake Powell, 2014
  • Lara Porzak, Bucephalus, The Camargue, 2002
    Bucephalus, The Camargue, 2002
  • Lara Porzak, Alien Land, 2013
    Alien Land, 2013
  • Lara Porzak, The Place for Young Spirits - On the Road R.F.N., 2004
    The Place for Young Spirits - On the Road R.F.N., 2004
  • Lara Porzak, Kentucky Road, 2004
    Kentucky Road, 2004
  • Lara Porzak, Mustard Jars, 2016
    Mustard Jars, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Fog 12, 2020
    Fog 12, 2020
  • Lara Porzak, Route 395, 2016
    Route 395, 2016
  • Lara Porzak, Angel, 2020
    Angel, 2020
  • Lara Porzak, Silver Wing Tintype, 2020
    Silver Wing Tintype, 2020
  • Lara Porzak, Lightning, 2015
    Lightning, 2015
  • Lara Porzak, Swallowtail's Flight
    Swallowtail's Flight
  • Lara Porzak, Lilies, 2023
    Lilies, 2023
  • Lara Porzak, Properties of Thirst, 2024
    Properties of Thirst, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Copper Glow, 2024
    Copper Glow, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Peonies 3, 2024
    Peonies 3, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Momma's Humingbird, 2024
    Momma's Humingbird, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Screech Owl, 2024
    Screech Owl, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Almond Blossoms I, 2024
    Almond Blossoms I, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, She/her, 2024
    She/her, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Secret Cove, British Colombia, 2024
    Secret Cove, British Colombia, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Gesturing Tulip, 2024
    Gesturing Tulip, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, “Pinwheel”, 2024
    “Pinwheel”, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, Arched Oak, Santa Ynez, 2023
    Arched Oak, Santa Ynez, 2023
  • Lara Porzak, We the People, Grand Canyon, 2024
    We the People, Grand Canyon, 2024
  • Lara Porzak, El Capitan Heart, 2019
    El Capitan Heart, 2019
  • Lara Porzak, Flair, 2013
    Flair, 2013
  • Lara Porzak, Billi Bird, 2011
    Billi Bird, 2011
Exhibitions
Video